Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My tiel learnt some time ago to imitate the phone ring & did this with no problems but over the last month & 1/2 he's been doing this but getting louder. I don't think he is imitating the phone now. I think he's just being very boystrous & extremely noisy about it. I've tried everything I could think of from putting him in his cage for time out, covering his cage when he's doing it in there, putting him outside, ignoring him, destracting him.... but nothing is working & he's driving us mad!!!!
He does this all the time but he's at his worse when he's hormonal.
Does anyone else have any suggestions on how I can stop this bad behaviour?
Thanks Kim

I don't know what to tell you but my bird does that too. And yes it can get to be a bit much at times.

If she is not on my shoulder she is shreiking for me to come and get her. Sometimes she shreiks while she is on my shoulder. When she does this I talk really softly to her and tell her this is how we should be talking, quietly. I got that suggestion from a woman in this group. It works but only when on my shoulder.

It is spring here and they are hormonal now. I tried getting her a companion and that was a mistake. They were twice as loud and did not get along.

I have found that giving her a variety of foods helps to quiet her and new toys.

Try giving him some meals, like cooked beans or peas. Kale, broccoli etc. This does help with Pepper.

Thanks but he gets all the correct nutrients he needs. I live in Australia so his natural dietry foods are readily available for him.

I think I'll try ignoring him & see if this works....it'll be hard!!

Thanks Kim

I am just curious. What kinds of native foods does he eat?

I have always wanted to give my birds their natural foods but not sure what they are or how to get them.

Any kind of tropical friut, mine loves fresh mango, pineapple, coconut. I also give him dandelion flowers, grevilia & bottlebrush (he eats flowers & leaves of these) & grevilia is his favorite & I give him a variety of gums from my back yard. I'm not sure what some of them are but I give them to him because I always see the wild birds eating them. I also give him macadamia nuts & cashews. But I give him these because he has alot of excersise outside of his cage so he is burning off plenty of fat. Nuts are high in fat so if they don't get alot of excersise it's not a good idea to give them too much. He prefers his native flowers & leaves to his seed & he's also thin but his vet says he's on the correct diet & is very healthy so I don't worry about his weight.
You can also try doing a search on the net for there natural foods.
Where are you from?

That picture is adorable! Clearly he's madly in love with that tea pot. My cockatiel used to sing to door knobs and the shiny legs of our chairs.

As far as noise goes... I'm afraid 'trying everything' is more likely to make the problem WORSE than BETTER.

The only way to solve a noise problem is to ignore it completely. Whenever he makes a noise that displeases you, turn your back on him until he stops. When he's quiet, or making more enjoyable sounds, reward him lavishly. He'll catch on, believe me! But approaching him to cover the cage or trying to distract him is paying attention to him and can be inadvertantly REWARDING the bahvior you"re trying to stop. Goodluck!

That pic he was only about 4 or 5 months old. He doesn't do that so much now but he has taken over that area around the kettle & god help you if you put your hand anywhere near it! LOL